I read articles about various marketing methods that get people to spend more money. I have to laugh at those articles because those marketing ploys don’t work on my. I don’t follow the pattern they are saying consumers follow. This could be because I happened to be one of the rare women who hate to shop. I also just can’t believe that the masses are as completely gullible as that.

This image of the 99 cent menu is a little off as most of the items on the old 99 cents menu are now over a dollar but under two dollars.

I also disagree with the marketing concept that even a bad ad is okay because people will remember the product and not the ad. Years and years ago, Wendy’s had a marketing campaign that I hated. The more I saw it the more negative I felt about Wendy’s. I eventually forgot the series of ads that I thought were so bad, but every time I drove past a Wendy’s, I felt the same negative feelings and disgust. I didn’t go to a Wendy’s restaurant in about a decade. I think it was the spicy chicken sandwich that got me to go back.

I’ve stopped going again. The changes they made to make their food seem more like ‘real’ food were bad changes. I haven’t had a good serving of fries there in two years and the quality of some of the other stuff has been going downhill during that same time. So I just stopped altogether.

There are two marketing campaigns that have worked on me.

One came out when I was very young, so it didn’t affect my shopping habits but it probably explains why I was a Coke fan over Pepsi. Today, I go between both equally. But anytime they do a retro ad campaign (I know they did it sometime in the 1990’s as well as more recently), this one gets to me and I want Coke. It was the “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony” advertisements.

Pepsi copied this add campaign with a song that sounded very much like it. I thought they used the fund raising song, “We are the World”, but upon looking that up, it turns out that some people objected to “We are the World” because they thought it sounded too much like a Pepsi jingle. I guess the jingle came first and the song came later.

I was sure Jeremy Piven had done a remake of this commercial in the 1990’s but I can’t find a reference of it anywhere.

But the best marketing campaign ever is also from the 70’s. They wrote a jingle and hired an actor who could sing and dance to perform in the commercial, An American Werewolf in London’s David Naughton. This good looking, young actor danced around signing a song that still gets stuck in my head several decades later. “Wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too, Dr. Pepper, drink Dr. Pepper.” I will admit that I usually see a later version of this commercial with a shorter, more muscled, actor with short hair. I thought it was Jeremy Piven, before he did the 1998 TV show, Cupid. My research seems to indicate I am wrong.

To this day, when I see the red cans w/ the Dr. Pepper logo, that song starts to filter through my brain and I start to crave a Dr. Pepper. A few days back, I saw a Facebook post for Dr. Pepper asking, “When was the last time you drank one?” The song started to play in my brain as I thought to myself that I didn’t know when. The past three mornings, I’ve gone straight to the machines at work and started my day with a bottle of Dr. Pepper.

1. Apparently two movies opened and totally bombed as Oz stayed in first place. These were The Call and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. I have a theory here. Lack of advertising. I’ve not seen a trailer for either at any of the films I’ve seen and I’ve never heard of either title so they can’t have advertised very hard at all. You can’t expect to fill the theaters if you don’t advertise. The article says there was a strong marketing push for Burt Wonderstone. I wonder where that marketing money was spent?
2. North Dakota is passing a strict abortion law that would ban abortions at around 6 weeks into the pregnancy. Some people don’t even know they are pregnant until after that point. It’s just not a human being at that point. I’m just so sick of men controlling women’s reproductive rights and I really think it is wrong that any person has the right to tell another person she must have a baby she can’t afford, or care for, or any reason. But at the same time said people don’t want to do any thing to help the mother’s or the babies once the child is actually born and actually exists as another person.

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3. Some Sheriff in Colorado is refusing to enforce two gun control laws. One is requiring the background check when transferring ownership of guns between two people and another limiting the size of gun magazines. He says they will be impossible to enforce so he isn’t going to bother. I didn’t know law enforcement was allowed to pick and chose what they want to enforce or not enforce. How hard would the first one really be to enforce? You have to do something similar when transferring a car. Of course, a car is a lot more obvious if it isn’t plated. People see it going down the road. A gun isn’t so obvious. As for magazine size, if it holds to many rounds, it is illegal. Sounds simple. It’s not like they want to run around and examine every single gun. It’s more a case of getting in trouble if you get caught with one. Sure, he is correct when he says that it won’t stop the criminal from getting guns. But laws against murder are not stopping murderers, so does that mean we should stop arresting people for murder?

4. Tiny homes are adorable. Very cute. I think it triggers that spot in me that really desired a play house as a child. I could probably manage in a 600 sq ft one but the 220 sq ft ones are totally insane. I would probably need three of them. One to live in, one for my books, and one for my stitching and scrapbooking supplies. It’s the 120 sq footers that really get me. The shower is too tiny to turn around in, there is a sink and a stove but no place to cut and prep your meal. The photos were at such weird angles that you could not get any idea of the layout. Where was the bed/sofa in relation to the ‘kitchen’ and exactly where was that miniscule shower located? The single person dwelling had a toy shed behind it. A shed anyway, with several toddlers toys in front. There isn’t room in that box for an adult and a child. Where did the toddler sleep? Maybe the shed. The shed looked like it was bigger than the house. The 612 sq footer was over half a million. 649,000$. A little over a thousand dollars a sq ft. But the photos show that the materials were all high end, with a very fancy shower mosaic, and high end appliances. Very Top Drawer, so to speak.

I often repost fun pictures or amusing political items. Most of my political items make fun of just about everything under the sun and are not rampant, hit a person over the head with a cast iron frying pan, propaganda. In fact, most of the ones I post are more about dialogue and less about propaganda.

This is not true of some of my friends. Some of real friends, with whom I was once able to discuss different viewpoints, seem to be drifting farther and farther to the right and are getting more and more heavy-handed. They repost extremely emotional and politically charged images and sound like they are simply repeating propaganda learned by rote and no longer really thinking about it themselves.

I find myself getting more and more offended by the political standpoints of people I really know. It doesn’t bother me when it is from ‘game’ friends. I don’t know them. I just play social games they are also playing. Therefore it doesn’t make me cringe.

I will admit that the two pictures that seem to bother me the most are the ones in which toddlers are dressed up in military uniforms. The captions are placing adult responsibilities on the shoulders of three and four-year old children. It offends me on the moral grounds that it is a militant indoctrination that seemed aimed at placing unrealistic expectations on small children with a focus on learning to obey people who ‘know better’ than them rather than learning to think for themselves and make a decision about the military for themselves.

I’m also very tired of the posts that basically say that if you don’t support the war that means you don’t support the troops and therefore you don’t support the country and you should get out and go somewhere else. I can believe in our men and women and not believe in the war and I’m tired of people telling me I am unpatriotic and to move out of ‘their’ country.

So many of the pro-military posts are getting ‘in your face’ and downright distasteful. The level of hate in political propaganda, even non-military, has reached vulgar and downright worrisome levels. Especially when I see it coming from my friends.

As I get older, I move farther to the left. I’m told this is unusual. People often get more conservative as they age. But I keep telling people they really need to stop this all or nothing attitude. Example. A friend reposts an anti-muslim ad, that implies all muslims are bad, without thinking how much it would hurt one of her muslim friends. All Hispanics are illegal. All Hispanics must be from another country (apparently, U.S. Territories are not part of the U.S. in some people minds). And so on. People are losing sight of the fact that there are lots of points in-between.

The more I read, the more I worry. I don’t think the next major act of terrorism will come from outside. We have had enough smaller incidents to point to the fact that the next major incident is more likely to come from fanatical right-wing and fanatical left-wing sides. I’m almost afraid of the upcoming presidential election. Every four years the tensions and frustrations and stresses seem to get worse and more violent.

The next civil war with not be one economic section of the country vs another. It will be the leftists vs the right wingers. One day, it may even be the bottom half of the economic strata vs the top 1%.

But let’s get back to the friends part of it. Sometimes, the political things my friends post make me like them less. Not because I have a different view. We have always had those different views. But because it seems like they are no longer thinking about it themselves and instead of engaging in political discourse it seems that have become part of a political propaganda engine. It is like a certain far-Right, hate filled, bigoted view has taken over their rational thought processes.

Maybe they were kidnapped and replaced by pod-people. It is like a strange version of the Stepford Wives in which reasonable, intelligent conservatives were replaced by angry, hateful, bigoted, militant GOP’ers.

Another struggle of a morning ensues on this dark and wet a.m. On my drive home last night, after a delicious dinner at Petrow’s, I decide to get committed to losing 100 lbs. I was up so late Sunday night that I thought going to bed early would be no problem. Then I could get up a little early and work out.

I had this great idea for a tattoo to represent the successful loss of that weight. A pile of pumpkins. One for each 10 lbs. Only one pumpkin needs to be a jack’o’lantern and one needs to be a skull rather than a pumpkin. And a little black cat if it could be tucked in someplace. I was thinking one of my butt cheeks would be the ideal location for this. I can’t draw at all so would need to find a designer to work something up for me.

I go to bed 9:30ish and have no luck. I get up for a little while and then go to bed at what I consider my proper bed time. Only I still can’t sleep. I did two crosswords. TWO! Normally I do one or even half of one and I’m ready to fall asleep. I then read for a while. I finally turn out the light at midnight and fall asleep. And then proceed to oversleep by 18 minutes. No workout for me. No proper shower to get the last little bit of blue out of my hair either. Not enough time. Sticking my head under the sink didn’t work out very well.

Breakfast ends up a cup of easy-mac, and original flavor Slim Jim, and a SoBe Lifewater, 0 calories. Yumberry Pomegranate, antioxidants, Vitamins C & E, Ginger and Dandelion root extract, to be exact. Things you didn’t need to know on a Tuesday morning.

Work proves to be something of a repeat of yesterday with more frustration. So I read a little news and get even more upset about that shooting of a teen inFlorida. Turned out the neighborhood watch guy wasn’t even a member of any registered neighborhood watch group. So he is just some cop wannabe out patrolling the streets he lives on with a gun. That is someone who is looking for an opportunity to take someone down. He wanted to have an opportunity to use that gun in my book. Pisses me off that he is was not arrested and he was just let go, feeling justified in his action.

Of course, I feel a little worried about the fact I emailed that police department telling them that they should be ashamed of themselves. I probably shouldn’t have. But I wasn’t properly awake yet and it seemed like a good idea when the brain was only half functioning.

On the other hand, I feel good about a new Israeli law and wish more countries would do something like it. In an attempt to combat eating disorders and enforce truth in advertising, they are 1. not allowing the use of underweight models in advertising and 2. ads must indicate if any airbrushing or altering was done to any photos to make the models look thinner or otherwise alter the appearance.

I think this is a good thing. I remember, back before my sister lost the baby weight from her second pregnancy, there was a program on models on the t.v. My brother-in-law made a comment wishing my sister was as thin and healthy as the models. The program then went on to describe all the health problems models for which models were at risk. Because an overweight person can be healthy but underweight people can’t be healthy because there is no way for them to be getting the basic proper nutrition. My brother-in-law took back what he said before the show. My sister and I knew what it was about from the start. Which is why we didn’t get on his case when he first made the comment. He quickly realized his error without having to be corrected by any of us.

Of course, this is only for ads produced inIsrael and not for foreign ads. I think they should hold foreign ads to the standard as well. That way it would for a large numbers of manufactures of fashion advertising to modify what they do. I hope other countries take notice and start passing these laws.

Meanwhile, I’m amused at China’s new law to ban naming supplements after sex, god, or immortal and banning the use of powerful, magical results, miraculous, and extraordinary as descriptors of products. They don’t want advertisers and businesses using vulgarity or the belief in the supernatural to sell things. They think that will ‘restore confidence’ in the country’s goods. Maybe not using lead in things, among the other issues they have had, would be a better place to start.

And can anyone tell me why you need workout clothing to ‘flatter your figure’? Really? The point is to get a figure. If you have a good one already, you will already look good in almost any workout clothing. If you don’t have one, workout clothes to make you look better will not help you get there.

I did a group fitness challenge at work last year that included a subscription to a fitness magazine. It was the worst fitness magazine I’ve ever seen. (it is a popular one for women) It was hard to find the actual fitness articles because of all the ads. One issue had only one real article involving fitness. And even that one didn’t have anything to do with actual fitness. It was how to pick up guys at the gym.

Apparently writers are still catering to the idea women only workout to meet men. Hmmm, I don’t think so. I’m going to the gym to get in shape and lose weight. I’m going to get messy and sweaty and sticky. I don’t want to wear make-up because I don’t want it to run all over my face. Really, you think I’m going to be in the mood to pick up guys?

Have I left anything out? Probably. I know had a dozen random thoughts floating in my head this morning. I know I formulated a paragraph here and there on various topics. I’m now waiting around for the Mystery Bookstore to open up. Inside is the Stitch in Crime needle craft store. I need to find out if she had some silk fiber in Tardis blue. If so, I will pick it up at lunch. After work, I’m going to stop at a fabric store and get some black silk. I may get started on my Tardis Throw Pillow tonight.

But I’ve said it before and will probably do so again, “I hate morning.” I am not a morning person.

Walking past a coworker’s cubicle I saw a print out of a cartoon woman biting her fist with an expression of worry of fear. Now this particular style of art may or may not be Andy Warhol. Even if it is not, anytime I see it, it makes me think of Warhol.

I don’t like Warhol’s art. I don’t like the oversized faces of stars, sport stars, and some politicians. The ones done similar to the period of photography where the photo would be taken in sepia tones and then a painter would add touches of color to the lips and eyes. Only Warhol’s looked garish while that type of photo looks soft. I don’t like the same image used in a repeating pattern with each one a different color. I don’t like boring pictures of pantry goods.

I never understood why it was considered pop art. I can understand why they say he captured what was at the heart of America in the 60’s and 70’s. I guess that is why it is ‘pop’ art. But to me it does not look like art. It looks like advertising. I just can’t understand why he became all the rage.

On the other hand, if you read about the man, I find him an interesting person. After walking past the tacked up print out I decided to look him up online and learn something new today. I try to look up one thing new every day to learn something I didn’t know before. After reading a few sites, I think on payday I’m going to go see if I can find a biography for him. I should just check the library after work. But this city has such a terrible library system and I haven’t seen my library card in years. But that is another subject for another time.

I tell myself I don’t need one. It is just a fancy gadget that does what my computer and laptops (2) and personal DVD player all do. (Counting the other hard drive that has issues that is 2 computers – do I have to much tech for one person?)

I don’t feel that I need one. I do like the smaller size. It is pretty. The commercial makes it look even greater than the one my friend showed me. The commercial is an advertising marvel. It really makes me think that I must have one.

I’m normally very resistant to advertising. I can feel them trying to manipulate me and I become stubborn and resistant to the product. So the very fact that it makes me drool over the iPad and start to lose my common sense must mean it is a successful marketing tool.

Now I feel a vague sense of unease about the fact that I don’t have one. Even thought I know I don’t need it. It’s a bit like sitting in a boat with no life vests on a very small, very sallow pond. I know that you can drown in a couple inches of water and really should have the vests in the boat, but they really don’t feel all the necessary.

Only imagine that in reverse. I know that an iPad is not necessary because I have things that will do all its functions that I would end up using. Yet I feel like I really ought have one in the boat with me….

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drake University’s new marketing campaign that features a “D+” logo is getting a failing grade from some faculty, students and alumni.

They say it’s offensive and embarrassing and tarnishes the university’s reputation.

Leaders at the Des Moines school say regardless of how people react, they are reacting and that’s what they wanted to accomplish.

The Des Moines Register reported Friday that Drake hired Cedar Rapids-based company to help develop the new “Drake Advantage” recruitment campaign. The university recently unveiled it to prospective students through brochures and its website.

Drake spokesman Tom Delahunt says while the “D+” comes across as a grade at first glance, it’s meant to represent all the opportunities Drake offers students.

Notice the most important words in that last sentence. “at first glance” In the world of advertizing, first glance is the most important point. Does it catch people’s attention, does it evoke the response we want to create, does it make people want to take a closer look?

Talk about a bad marketing decision. It is as bad as the “O” campaign for advertising Omaha.